TN This Week: Seat Sharing Talks, Rise in COVID-19 Cases and Cash Seized Ahead of Polls

With hardly a week left for the process of filing nominations to begin, the two alliances in Tamil Nadu are in the process of finalising their seat-sharing agreements.

Since the moral code of conduct came into force last week, the flying squads of the Election Commission of India (ECI) have been seizing cash, live chicks and school bags suspected to be freebies to be distributed to voters by political parties.

Along with the rise in election fever, the daily COVID-19 count is also considerably increasing day by day. The rise in vaccination has not been able to keep in check the spread of the virus.

A woman IPS officer has lodged a sexual harassment complaint against a fellow Special DGP. Civil rights organisations are demanding his immediate arrest. NewsClick brings you a round-up of the happenings this week.

SEAT SHARING TALKS CONTINUE 

Congress is set to contest the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections in 25 seats, the party said on Sunday after signing a seat-sharing agreement with alliance partner Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), according to a report by Mint.

"We have signed a seat-sharing agreement with DMK. Congress will contest in 25 assembly seats and in the byelection to the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat," said state party chief KS Alagiri.

Other parties like Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Communist Party of India (CPI) have sealed the pact with DMK for six seats each, while the IUML and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) would contest in three and two seats respectively. 

All is not well in the AIADMK camp as well, but agreement has been achieved with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and BJP. Other parties in the alliance are waiting for their turn to finalise their share of seats. The AIADMK has ensured its dominance in the alliance, with allocating only 20 seats to the BJP, which had demanded 60 seats initially. 

The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) are reportedly unhappy with the offer by the AIADMK, keeping the talks from concluding. The continuance of DMDK in the alliance is still uncertain, while many other smaller parties in the fold are yet to receive a call from the AIADMK to hold discussions. 

With the elections just a month away, the parties have little time to finalise their seat sharing agreements. Read More

With hardly a week left for the process of filing nominations to begin, the two alliances in Tamil Nadu are in the process of finalising their seat-sharing agreements.

Since the moral code of conduct came into force last week, the flying squads of the Election Commission of India (ECI) have been seizing cash, live chicks and school bags suspected to be freebies to be distributed to voters by political parties.

Along with the rise in election fever, the daily COVID-19 count is also considerably increasing day by day. The rise in vaccination has not been able to keep in check the spread of the virus.

A woman IPS officer has lodged a sexual harassment complaint against a fellow Special DGP. Civil rights organisations are demanding his immediate arrest. NewsClick brings you a round-up of the happenings this week.

SEAT SHARING TALKS CONTINUE 

Congress is set to contest the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections in 25 seats, the party said on Sunday after signing a seat-sharing agreement with alliance partner Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), according to a report by Mint.

"We have signed a seat-sharing agreement with DMK. Congress will contest in 25 assembly seats and in the byelection to the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat," said state party chief KS Alagiri.

Other parties like Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Communist Party of India (CPI) have sealed the pact with DMK for six seats each, while the IUML and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) would contest in three and two seats respectively. 

All is not well in the AIADMK camp as well, but agreement has been achieved with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and BJP. Other parties in the alliance are waiting for their turn to finalise their share of seats. The AIADMK has ensured its dominance in the alliance, with allocating only 20 seats to the BJP, which had demanded 60 seats initially. 

The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) are reportedly unhappy with the offer by the AIADMK, keeping the talks from concluding. The continuance of DMDK in the alliance is still uncertain, while many other smaller parties in the fold are yet to receive a call from the AIADMK to hold discussions. 

With the elections just a month away, the parties have little time to finalise their seat sharing agreements. Read More

COVID-19: CASES ON A RISE

The past week witnessed a further spike in COVID-19 cases in the state. Fresh cases crossed 500 a day with 543 new cases on March 5, taking the total count to 8,53,992 in Tamil Nadu. The death toll has touched 12,513, the second-highest in the country following Maharashtra.

While other states see a reduction in cases with the vaccination drive, the number of cases have risen in Tamil Nadu even though vaccination has picked up pace. On March 4, more than 81,000 people were inoculated taking the total count to 6.7 lakh in the state.

It is suspected that the rallies, campaigns, public meetings, etc. ahead of the Assembly elections is contributing to the spike in cases.

The Election Commission has announced that Tamil Nadu Election 2021 voting will take place while following strict COVID-19 protocols. The ECI has informed the Health Department that all election staff will have to be given vaccination on a priority basis, but staff members have voiced their opinion asking that the vaccination be kept optional.

COVID-19 patients and even those with fever-like symptoms have been allowed to vote with proper precautions. They can go to the polling stations during the last one hour, use the PPE kits provided and cast their votes.

ELECTION FREEBIES SEIZED BY ECI

Cash for votes from the big and rich parties is a practice prevalent in Tamil Nadu. Upon coming into force of the model code of conduct with the announcement of elections last week, the ECI has deployed flying surveillance teams (FSTs) and static surveillance teams (SSTs) to track untoward cash and other goods flows in the state.

The flying squads have been seizing several lakhs of undocumented cash being transported in districts across the state. A flying squad team in Ariyalur district on March 5 seized Rs 5 crore from a vehicle belonging to a nationalised bank without proper documents. 

At least 50,000 school bags embossed with photographs of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami were seized from two lorries in Ramanathapuram district on March 3. A consignment of 31,000 school bags worth Rs 47.50 lakh with images of the same leaders on them addressed to the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Education Services Corporation, Thanjavur, was seized on March 4.

The election flying squad in Nilgiris district seized 4,500 chicks transported to Coonoor meant to be distributed among the tribal villages by a political party in Tamil Nadu, ahead of the Assembly election in the state.

‘ARREST THE DGP ACCUSED OF HARASSMENT’

Members of All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), Students Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) staged a demonstration outside the Collectorate in Madurai on March 5 demanding the arrest of former Special Director General (DGP) of Police Rajesh Das in an alleged sexual harassment case. AIDWA stormed the DGP office in Chennai on March 4 demanding the arrest of the alleged sexual harasser.

Last week a woman IPS officer accused Special DGP Rajesh Das of sexual harassment. The complainant allegedly accused the top officer of misbehaving with her while on duty during the tour of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to the central districts recently.

On March 3, Rajesh Das was put on compulsory wait following the complaint, and the Tamil Nadu government constituted a six-member committee under IAS officer Jayashree Raghunandan to probe the allegation.

Chengalpattu Superintendent of Police D. Kannan is accused of preventing and criminally intimidating the IPS officer from filing the complaint. The committee is said to be addressing the complaint against Kannan sas well.

100TH DAY OF FARMERS’ PROTEST

Marking the 100th day of the farmers’ protest in Delhi, the All India Kisan Sangarch Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) gave a call to observe the day as black day. Condemning the apathy of the Modi government and demanding the withdrawal of the three farm laws, protests were held in hundreds of sites across Tamil Nadu. 

Referring to the three anti-farmer laws, the secretary of AIKS P. Shanmugam said, “Let us remember the martyrs who gave their lives to the movement and take oath to defeat the BJP ally in the upcoming Assembly elections.”

LICENCES OF 28 CRACKER UNITS SUSPENDED

The licences of 28 firecracker units were suspended and the factories were sealed in Sivakasi region of Virudhunagar district after a series of accidents. Seven inspection teams conducted surprise checks in the firecracker units after concerns were raised after loss of several lives. 

The state government had ordered a probe into the spat of accidents after demands and protests by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and other trade unions in the industry. The violation of safety precautions are common in the industry, thanks to the lack of inspections and verifications from the government departments and the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation (PESO). Read More

VISUALLY CHALLENGED WANT EMPLOYMENT

Visually challenged persons protested sitting outside the Commissionerate for the Differently-Abled in Chennai demanding proper employment. Many of them hold masters and research degrees, and have even qualified the required eligibility tests. Yet, they are not provided appropriate jobs. Read more

Also read: Handling of Electronic Evidence by Agencies a Perversion of Criminal Justice: CCG